The Editorial Board

The essential facts of the coronavirus economic disaster are these: Federal and state governments have shut down most American commerce, robbing tens of thousands of successful companies of revenue through no fault of their own. Mass layoffs are already underway, with 6.6 million new jobless claims in the week that ended April 4, and cascading bankruptcies loom.

That’s the backdrop for the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented $2.3 trillion expansion of its lending and bond-buying programs on Thursday to offer a liquidity lifeline....